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This is the first time I've used this forum (recommended by a Lockergnome forum user), so here goes.....

I'm looking for a way to run a program at a random time within a given period each day. I've searched the web but I can't find anything suitable

The user would supply the time of the start of the period, the time of the end of the period and the path/name of the program to rum.So for example, if the start time was 1am and the end time was 5am, the "timer" software would run the given programme once a day, at some random time between 1 and 5am, with the time that the program runs being different each day

It doesn't need a fancy interface - just a functional program which isn't user hostile.

Also, the definition of "random" is fairly loose. I gather that Excel uses a formula likerandom_number=fractional part of (9821 * r + 0.211327),where r = the previous random numberThe results of this are random enough for most everyday purposes.

Done!http://tanyvska.co.uk/DC ('Till I get my space here sorted out smiley)Yours is the 'RRunner.exe and .jpg'Bugs? Suggestions? Shout them out You will need the latest .NET 2 framework (Use windows update if you don't already)

Logged

It's not a bug, it's an undocumented and unexplainable feature.Stick it on your site:

I've installed the program and tried it briefly with a short time period. It seems to work very well so far. I'll try it over the next few days and let you know how things go.

I have a few questions and observations:

I can run more than one copy of the timer simultaneously, to run different programs or the same program more than once, but are there likely to be any problems or conflicts if I do this?

I've set up my computer to switch itself on using the BIOS timer and switch itself off using a shutdown utility. Inbetween it runs various calculation, download and housekeeping tasks under timer control. I'd like to get RRunner to load from the startup group minimised to the system tray, ready to run it's program at some random time. However, RRunner doesn't seem to save the details of the time period and application.Could the program be made to read a configuration file containg the time period and application path-name (ideally plain text) by using a switch after the program name. That way I could get RRunner to load and run completely automatically or get two instances of RRunner to run different programs at random times automatically.Also if I set the program to run minimised it minimises to the task bar as well as the system tray. Could the program be set up to (optionally) run already minimised to the system tray?

I've set up my computer to switch itself on using the BIOS timer and switch itself off using a shutdown utility. Inbetween it runs various calculation, download and housekeeping tasks under timer control. I'd like to get RRunner to load from the startup group minimised to the system tray, ready to run it's program at some random time. However, RRunner doesn't seem to save the details of the time period and application.Could the program be made to read a configuration file containg the time period and application path-name (ideally plain text) by using a switch after the program name. That way I could get RRunner to load and run completely automatically or get two instances of RRunner to run different programs at random times automatically.Also if I set the program to run minimised it minimises to the task bar as well as the system tray. Could the program be set up to (optionally) run already minimised to the system tray?